June 6-7, 2015 - Hutto Lake Park

The park finally opened backup sometime around June 3rd-5th, but I hadn't had time to go down until June 6th. I bought some 20lb braid and 12lb flourocarbon line and re-spooled my reel with it (all braid and an 8-9' FC leader). I had to learn how to tie both a double uni knot and a Palomar knot as both were needed for this new setup. I actually did both correct the first time.

I got to the pond shortly after 7am and fished for a good 2 hrs, but only managed one dink. I realized when I caught it I had forgotten my cell phone in the truck, so it was the first time in a while I couldn't take a picture of my catch (although, it was nothing to gloat about).

Later in the day around 5:30pm, I decided to go back to the pond to try out my luck. After fishing for about 45 mins, I finally caught another dink (probably 11" largemouth bass).

The next day, I went out again in the evening and caught a nicer sized LMB (about 15"). What's nice about this catch is that I finally caught something on the northwest side after always being skunked there. It was a little windy, too, which made the effort even more enjoyable.

May 31, 2015 - Lake Pflugerville

I've never had any good luck at this place. Probably been about 10 times since the beginning of the year and still haven't caught one. I managed to reel one in a couple months ago, but he broke lose right at the bank. Other than that all my luck there has been bad. I've lost multiple lures, fell on my ass once, gotten bit by gnats & mosquitoes constantly, spilled my drink, and so on.

I decided to try one more time on a Sunday evening, but still no luck. I tried a top-water frog and a buzz bait, and actually got action on both but neither one yielded a bite. My old standby the Yamamoto senko didn't produce anything, either. Skunked again.

May 24, 2015 - Hutto Lake Park

We had some very bad storms last night in the area. So bad in fact they had to shut down part of I-35 just north of San Marcos due to the Blanco river flooding. In Wimberly (a town southwest of Austin) they got so much rain the Blanco river there was 40+ ft above flood stage. I had some things to do at the house, but by 1:00pm I had nothing else on my list to do. It was fair most of the day and the sun would peek out every now and then, so I decided to go down to the pond and try my new rod+reel out again,

Just like yesterday, the place was a little crowded. It almost looked like the same people from the day before were there again. I started walking over to my favorite spot on the northeast side, but halfway there I noticed a man standing there. So, I decided to set shop halfway between the dock and where the man was at. The wind was blowing hard again at times, which really made it difficult to cast. After about 10-15 mins, I decided to walk clock-wise around the pond to try my luck on the northwest side. As luck would have it as soon as I got near the spot, I noticed a couple guys had already taken position there to fish. I noticed the man that was at the northeast side had left, so I kept walking around until I got to that spot.

On my second (or maybe third) cast I got a bite and set the hook and started to reel it in but evidently it got loose. It probably swallowed the worm from the end that didn't have the hook and I never even had it to begin with. Probably 4-5 casts after that I hooked one, though. It felt big, but when I got it to shore, it was a little dink probably 11" long. No more than 4-5 casts later, I caught my second one - a 14" LMB. Probably 10 mins after that, I caught another little dink just like the first one. I stayed there for about another 45 mins and while I felt a couple hits, I never got was able to catch anything else.

May 23, 2015 - Hutto Lake Park

I decided to hit the pond about 11:30am today to try out the new rod+reel and some of the new lures. I realized when I got there that I had forgotten to switch the handle on the reel to the right side. For some reason, spinning reels usually come with the handle on the left side while baitcasting reels have them on the right. I wasn't sure how to do it on this new Stradic reel, so I just went ahead and fished with the handle on the left side.

We've had a ton of rain the last few weeks and the weather this weekend is supposed to be more rain. It actually rained overnight several times as the thunder woke me up a couple of the times. So I was surprised in the morning when the rain had stopped. It was still mostly cloudy and some of the clouds were dark, but the rain held off for most of the morning. So I took the opportunity to head on down to the pond. I was expecting it to be empty since the ground was still a little damp from the overnight rains, but when I got there I noticed several people fishing. Luckily, no one was at my favorite spot on the northeast corner.

I fished for a good hour trying out different lures, but got nothing. The wind was a little strong - probably 10-15 mph and gusts of 20 mph - so it was hard to throw at times. As far as the new rod+reel, it took a while to get used to it, but I finally got it working. I switched over to a 5" pumpkin senko worm and after about 10 casts, I finally landed a largemouth bass. It felt huge on the new rod+reel, but ended up only being 16", which isn't too bad. When I was reeling it in, the drag was set too low so I had to adjust it while I was still reeling the fish in. When I got it close to the bank, I just lifted it out with my hands. After raking some pictures and throwing the fish back, I adjusted the drag a little more.

One of the times I was reeling in I just happened to look down and right in the water about 4' away from me was that snake just sitting there looking up at me. It startled me so I jumped a little and when I did the snake took off out in the pond. It circled away from me and swam to the pond grass to the right of me. I figured I had enough for the day anyway, so I packed it up and went home without catching anything else.

May 22, 2015 - New Rod and Lures

I had a bunch of points saved up at work, so I decided to use them to get a new Shimano Crucial rod to go with my new reel earlier this week. I also got some squarebill lures, a buzzbait, some craws, and some more hooks. When I was at work today, I got an email saying the packages had arrived. So after work, I headed over and picked them up. When I got home, I put the reel on the rod and was hoping that the rain would subside a little this weekend so I could try them out.

May 16, 2015 - Hutto Lake Park

I hadn't been fishing since May 9th due to all the rain we've been having. This morning was cloudy, but rain-free so I decided to go to the pond nearby and try my luck. I noticed the water was actually nice after all the rain we had. It had about the same clarity and was only up about 2-3". The pond has a drain on the north side, so it must have been draining the water pretty good the last few days. I tried the southeast side for about 30 mins with no luck, so decided to hit the northeast side. While walking to the spot, I noticed a man with two dogs who had them running loose. I'm not one to complain, but there is a sign that clearly states all pets are to be on a leash at the front of the park.

After about 20 mins of catching nothing at the new spot, I decided to switch the handle on my spinning rod to see if it worked better if I spun with my left hand vs. my right. As luck would have it, I threw my lure in and started reeling in with my left hand and then I got a bite. After a good struggle, I finally landed this 14" largemouth bass:

Needless to say I switched the handle back to the right side as that just felt bad all around. The new Stradic reel I bought the day before has the handle on the left side, so I guess I'll have to move it over to the right side once I get a rod for it.

May 15, 2015 - New Fishing Reel

I've been eyeballing the Shimano Stradic ci4+ spinning reel for a while now, but the price has been a bit steep (around $230 brand new). In the online bass fishing message board I frequent I came across a pro fisherman who was actually wanting to unload his Stradic ci4+ 1000 for a good bargain. We collaborated on a price and I met him to buy it. It's a really nice reel as it is about half the size of the reel I have on my $30 Zebco, and it has a smoother and faster spin.

Now I just have to buy a Shimano spinning rod to go with it. I have some points saved up from work, and they actually have a couple of Shimano freshwater reels available, so I may get it from there as the rods are kind of expensive, too.